New San Francisco District Attorney Cleans House after Replacing Chesa Boudin

San Francisco’s newly-appointed district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, wasted no time cleaning house after replacing progressive reformer Chesa Boudin as the city’s top prosecutor.

Jenkins sacked at least 15 staffers on Friday as part of her efforts to refocus the district attorney’s office’s efforts on cracking down on crime and holding repeat offenders accountable. She also announced four new hires – all women, and three described as women of color – to her management team. One of Jenkins’ hires was Nancy Tung, a former San Francisco prosecutor who was an opponent of Boudin’s during the 2019 election. While Boudin ran as a reformer, Tung ran as a more traditional tough-on-crime prosecutor.

“I promised the public that I would restore accountability and consequences to the criminal justice system while advancing smart reforms responsibly,” Jenkins said of the new hires, according to a SF Gate report. “I have full faith and confidence that these women will promote and protect public safety while delivering justice in all of its various forms.”

Jenkins told the local public radio station KQED that the changes were made to “bring in a new management team that is full of prosecution experience.”

San Francisco mayor London Breed chose Jenkins, 40, to replace Boudin as the city’s district attorney on July 7, after voters overwhelming voted to recall Boudin during a special election in June. Boudin, the son of Weather Underground terrorists, was a leading figure in the progressive-prosecutor movement. After he was elected with a plurality of votes in 2019, Boudin instituted a number of progressive policies: He ended cash bail, stopped prosecuting drug-possession cases stemming from “pretextual” traffic stops, stopped using enhancements to extend prison sentences for convicted gang members, and stopped prosecuting so-called quality-of-life crimes — things such as prostitution, public camping, public defecation, and open-air drug use.

As crime rose in the city, Boudin’s critics accused him of sending a message that San Francisco was a consequence-free place to engage in low-level crimes, which simply encouraged more crime.

Jenkins is one of the dozens of prosecutors who quit during Boudin’s tenure because of his soft-on-crime approach. She then became a leader in the recall movement.

Jenkins has vowed to “restore accountability and consequences to our criminal justice system,” including by cracking down on hate crimes and ending open-air drug markets.

“I think we have to go back to holding repeat offenders and repeat violent offenders accountable,” she told KQED. “I think that has been lost in this system and that cost us many lives over the past two years, having repeat offenders go out and reoffend in lethal ways.”

Among those fired by Jenkins were Arcelia Hurtado, who served as the district attorney’s representative on the Boudin-established Innocence Commission; Rachel Marshal, Boudin’s communication director and policy advisor; and Tal Klement, who had been chief of the office’s criminal division, according to media reports.

“After over 2 years of tireless and devoted service to the City and Cty of SF, I was unceremoniously fired without cause via phone by the Mayor’s appointed DA,” Hurtado tweeted on Friday. “I am the highest-ranking Latina/LGBTQ member of the management team at that office. I will continue to fight 4justice.”

The shakeup came less than a week after Jenkins’ first meeting with her upper-level staff. The San Francisco Examiner reported last week that Jenkins took a conciliatory tone during the July 8, meeting, and told staff that she wanted to “calm the waters” and “extend a hand” to Boudin supporters, according to the Examiner, which obtained a recording of the meeting.

However, some attendees of the meeting described it to SF Gate as “horrible,” “icy,” “uncomfortable,” and at times, “insane.”